Human Resources + Finance Spreading knowledge

Swissmedic is without doubt a ‘brain organisation’. “Apart from the lab, we don't actually have any scientific equipment. We depend on the scientific and methodological skills of our people, many of whom have a background in science”, explains Knowledge Management officer Michael Renaudin. “In the course of their daily work, our people decide for themselves what is important, what their focus is and what areas they develop. They have a high level of personal responsibility within their specialist area.” However, it is also a fact that Swissmedic does not always find it easy to ascertain whether the knowledge is where it ought to be or whether people share it with each other enough.

Knowledge management project

That presents an ideal opportunity for Swissmedic to address the issue of knowledge management with the aid of a raft of different measures that includes professional training, personal and social skills courses, coaching and mentoring. “We decided to apply maximum leverage to knowledge as a resource. This gave rise to the knowledge management initiative six years ago. We set up a Community of Practice as a platform for knowledge sharing. The idea is to work with colleagues from all divisions to find out where our knowledge comes from, what we do with it and how we manage, store and evaluate it. And, of course, to find out what we actually need to know and what we don’t.” In connection with this, Michael Renaudin points to the issue of relevance. It is just as important for employees to know when they can simply put something to one side.

Focusing on managers

The project focused particularly on managers. “We held several management development programmes in partnership with an external provider, and from the very outset training always revolved around the same questions: Who works here and what are their needs? And what demands are placed on managers? What do knowledge workers need to do their jobs, and how can we make sure that the relevant knowledge gets to the right place?” The aim was to explain to managers the need to get to know their reports properly and take an interest in their needs. “Object knowledge definitely took a back seat. Instead we were looking primarily at the knowledge carriers, in other words the people who work here. How can we help our scientific staff make their knowledge available, exchange it with others and link up the content?” Knowledge management at Swissmedic not only means addressing this process of exchange, but also bringing about a change in the way it is used in everyday operations.

Change in the office landscape

Knowledge management has specific real-life applications. One example involved the design of the new office environment in Hallerstrasse. To ensure that the new layouts met knowledge workers’ needs, the knowledge management CoP contributed to the project from the outset. Swissmedic inaugurated new work zones where people can meet and talk to each other. While this meant dispensing with single-occupant offices, it created new ways for employees to network with each other more effectively. “Not everyone welcomed the change of course, but I think we were able to find a useful and sustainable solution”, is Renaudin’s positive summary of the change process.

Development

The Community of Practice now makes sure that knowledge transfer can take place when people change jobs. It maintains the in-house Wiki, trains employees or even whole teams, organises training sessions, courses and internal knowledge conferences. “Because we put people at the centre, many of our staff engaged with the process and contributed actively to projects and measures”, is Michael Renaudin's positive summing-up. “Many of these initiatives turned into successes that we can still build on today.